Neuropeptide Y expression in the developing adrenal gland and in childhood neuroblastoma tumors.

Neuropeptide Y (NPY) expression is limited to tissues of the central and peripheral nervous system. In the adrenal gland, NPY is found in a subset of cells of the adrenal medulla. Using in situ hybridization analysis, NPY mRNA expression was characterized during human fetal adrenal medullary development.

Histogenesis of the human adrenal medulla. An evaluation of the ontogeny of chromaffin and nonchromaffin lineages.

The authors previously evaluated the expression of a panel of chromaffin-related genes during histogenesis of the human adrenal medulla. In these studies, chromaffin and nonchromaffin adrenal neuroblasts were identified. To better characterize these nonchromaffin neuroblasts, the authors evaluated two additional markers: HNK-1, an antibody recognizing the migratory neural crest cell; and S-100, a protein expressed by sustentacular cells of the adrenal medulla.

Proarrhythmic effects of antiarrhythmic drugs.

Drugs that are described as antiarrhythmic drugs may actually aggravate arrhythmia in several ways and these are termed proarrhythmic effects. The most common type of proarrhythmia is a paradoxical increase in the frequency of episodes of the target arrhythmia. This type of effect had not been suspected until recently and has not been widely publicized.

Abdominocervical (transhiatal) oesophagectomy in the management of oesophageal carcinoma.

Fifty-four patients have undergone abdominocervical oesophagectomy for oesophageal carcinoma as an alternative to a conventional transthoracic approach. Their median age was 69 years, with a range of 38-90 years, and 39 per cent of patients had chronic cardiorespiratory disease. Lymph node metastases were found in 80 per cent of patients and transmural tumour spread in 91 per cent.

Beta 2-microglobulin expression in human embryonal neuroblastoma reflects its developmental regulation.

Class I major histocompatibility complex (MHC) antigen expression in neuroblastoma may play a role in the oncogenicity of this embryonal tumor of childhood. Since N-myc amplification in neuroblastoma tumors is associated with rapid tumor progression (33) and N-myc decreases Class I MHC antigen expression in rat neuroblastoma cells (21), we quantitated levels of N-myc mRNA and Class I MHC cell surface antigens in a panel of 24 human neuroblastoma cell lines. We found that N-myc expression is not invariably associated with low levels of beta 2-microglobulin (B2M) and Class I MHC antigen expression.

A comparison of two doses of nizatidine versus placebo in the treatment of reflux oesophagitis.

Three-hundred and twenty-five patients with endoscopically verified oesophagitis entered a double-blind, randomized multicentre study that compared 300 mg nizatidine b.d., 300 mg nocte and placebo.

Human neuroblastoma tumor cell lines correspond to the arrested differentiation of chromaffin adrenal medullary neuroblasts.

We have examined the hypothesis that nonhematopoietic malignancies may contain cells corresponding to those which occur during the differentiation of tissue precursors. Neuroblastoma, an embryonal tumor of the adrenal medulla, was studied because of its well described ability to differentiate both in vivo and in vitro. We examined the expression of four genes during development of the human adrenal medulla: tyrosine hydroxylase, chromagranin A, pG2, and beta-2-microglobulin.

Neuropeptide Y expression distinguishes malignant from benign pheochromocytoma.

No reliable gross or microscopic features distinguish benign from malignant pheochromocytomas. The diagnosis of malignant pheochromocytoma is based solely on the presence of regional or distant metastases. This study evaluated the expression of neuropeptide Y messenger RNA (mRNA) in nine benign and 11 malignant pheochromocytomas and has found that neuropeptide Y mRNA was expressed in all nine benign tumors but in only four of 11 malignant tumors (P = .

Autonomous growth of a human neuroblastoma cell line is mediated by insulin-like growth factor II.

Insulin-like growth factor II (IGF-II) mRNA was increased in two of eight neuroblastomas and in eight of eight pheochromocytomas, tumors of the adrenal medulla that occur in childhood and adulthood, respectively. RNA encoding the type I IGF receptor, the receptor thought to mediate the mitogenic effects of IGF-I and IGF-II, also was uniformly expressed in these cells. To assess the role of IGF-II in the growth of these tumor cells, we have used the SK-N-AS cultured neuroblastoma cell line, which can be continuously propagated in mitogen-free medium, as a model system.

Comparison of immediate versus day to day variability of ventricular tachycardia induction by programmed stimulation.

The use of programmed stimulation to assess long-term oral antiarrhythmic drug efficacy for ventricular tachycardia is complicated by the fact that mode of ventricular tachycardia induction varies from day to day in the absence of drug therapy. The purpose of this prospective study was to assess whether mode of ventricular tachycardia induction is more reproducible within one study than from day to day. Thirty-nine consecutive patients with documented sustained ventricular tachyarrhythmias secondary to coronary artery disease underwent three inductions of ventricular tachycardia at 15 min intervals in the absence of drug therapy.

The value of angiography in the surgical management of pancreatic disease.

Selective visceral angiography should help to determine the nature and extent of pancreatic lesions and their suitability for resection. Between 1980 and 1987 coeliac and superior mesenteric angiograms were obtained in 76 patients considered for pancreatic resection. Anomalous arterial anatomy was delineated in 25%.

Molecular cloning and primary structure of human chromogranin A (secretory protein I) cDNA.

Chromogranin A (CGA), also referred to as secretory protein I, is an acidic protein that has been detected in all neuroendocrine cell types examined and is often present in large amounts relative to other secreted proteins. For example, CGA comprises at least 40% of the soluble protein of the adrenal chromaffin granule, and it appears to be the major secretory protein in the parathyroid secretory granules. CGA complementary DNAs (cDNAs) from bovine adrenal and pituitary have recently been cloned and sequenced and found to be nearly identical.

Evaluation of the responsiveness of elevated pulmonary vascular resistance in children by Doppler echocardiography.

Changes in the Doppler indexes, acceleration time (AcT), right ventricular ejection time (RVET), AcT/RVET ratio and pulmonary artery peak velocity were measured as were changes in pulmonary artery pressure and pulmonary vascular resistance in 21 children with pulmonary hypertension due to a large interventricular communication. In 11 children pulmonary vascular resistance was greater than 4.6 U/m2 (mean 8.

Bile acid concentrations in the refluxate of patients with reflux oesophagitis.

Although reflux of bile acids has been implicated in the pathogenesis of reflux oesophagitis, attempts to document this in vivo have failed to detect more than trace amounts of bile acid in the oesophagus. To determine the bile acid composition of oesophageal refluxate, 45 patients with abnormal acid gastro-oesophageal reflux with oesophagitis and 10 controls had a size 14 Fr Salem sump tube positioned 5 cm above the lower oesophageal sphincter. Oesophageal contents were continuously aspirated and collected in aliquots every 2 h over 16 h.

Effect of repetition of extrastimuli on sensitivity and reproducibility of mode of induction of ventricular tachycardia by programmed stimulation.

This study examined the effect of repeating the delivery of a programmed extrastimulus that previously failed to induce ventricular tachycardia, without the usual practice of concurrently altering other stimulation variables such as pacing site or basic cycle length. The impact of such repetition on both sensitivity and day to day variability in mode of arrhythmia induction was assessed in 24 patients with documented sustained ventricular tachycardia or fibrillation. Programmed stimulation in the absence of drugs was performed in each patient on 3 separate days.

Pulmonary artery origin of the left coronary artery: diagnosis by two-dimensional echocardiography, pulsed Doppler ultrasound and color flow mapping.

Five children, aged 0.2 to 6.7 years, with pulmonary artery origin of the left coronary artery proved by angiography underwent echocardiographic examination from 1985 through 1986.

Differences between patients with ventricular tachycardia and ventricular fibrillation as assessed by signal-averaged electrocardiogram, radionuclide ventriculography and cardiac mapping.

This study examined 65 patients with ventricular tachycardia or fibrillation late after myocardial infarction to determine whether they differed with respect to duration of ventricular activation in sinus rhythm and left ventricular ejection fraction. Patients with spontaneous ventricular tachycardia had a longer ventricular activation time in sinus rhythm than did patients with spontaneous ventricular fibrillation. This difference was detected with the signal-averaged electrocardiogram (ECG) (tachycardia 181 +/- 33 ms, fibrillation 152 +/- 23 ms, p less than 0.

Quantitation of day to day variability in mode of induction of ventricular tachyarrhythmias by programmed stimulation.

Spontaneous day to day variability in the mode of induction of ventricular tachycardia at programmed stimulation in the drug-free state has been described but not quantitated. To quantitate this variability, this study employed a new protocol of programmed stimulation in which the number of extrastimuli required for tachycardia induction was the only major stimulation variable. This protocol was applied to 18 consecutive patients with previously documented sustained ventricular tachyarrhythmia due to coronary artery disease.

Total pancreatectomy for chronic pancreatitis.

A survey of six British centres collected data on 83 patients undergoing total pancreatectomy (TP) for chronic pancreatitis between 1977 and 1986. There were 57 men and 26 women with a median age of 38 years (range 19-61 years). Half were alcoholics and half had had previous acute pancreatitis.